TV

‘South Park’ Just Trolled ‘The Simpsons’ Over The Apu Controversy

South Park knows a thing or two about offensive characters.

by Tom Clift  12 October 2018
South Park parodies The Simpsons Apu controversy

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The team at South Park have taken a swipe at The Simpsons and the recent debate over whether the character of Apu is racist.

The most recent episode of the Comedy Central series is titled The Problem With A Poo, a reference to comedian Hari Kondabolu’s documentary The Problem With Apu. The episode follows the recurring character Mr. Hankey the Christmas Poo, who is criticised for sending offensive tweets after taking Ambien (a la Roseanne Barr).  This ultimately leads to a series of hearings parodying the Senate Committee testimony by Brett Kavanaugh.

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Eventually Mr. Hankey is banished from South Park and sent to a place “that accepts racist, awful beings like him”, where people “don’t care about bigotry and hate”. That place is Springfield, which a bunch of characters from The Simpsons, including Apu, welcome Mr. Hankey with open arms.

The episode ends with the hashtag #CancelTheSimpsons, although given they’ve also been using the hashtag #CancelSouthPark this season it seems like it’s probably meant to be tongue-in-cheek.

Viewers on social media were divided over whether the gag is making fun of The Simpsons or people who are outraged about The Simpsons. Since this is South Park we’re talking about, the answer is probably both.